The Obama Campaign: Of Course It’s About Race!

Posted on February 28, 2008
Filed Under commentary |

I got a chuckle the other day when I happened to catch some well know black politician on television deny that African-Americans are supporting Barack Obama simply because he is black.

barack obama by transplanted mountaineerOh no, said the politician, race has nothing to do with this.

Well my friend (as John McCain would say) race has everything to do with this presidential campaign and you’d have to be blind, deaf, dumb and a television news anchor not to grasp this elemental truth.

When Obama captures something like 200 percent (okay, not that high, but close) of the black vote, tell me this is not a race about race!

There were some interesting quotes today on the web site of the Times of London. That’s right, I said Times of London.

The quotes are from Trevor Phillips, considered by some to be one of Britain’s most influential blacks.

Right out of the gate, Phillips said Obma is “cynically exploiting America’s racial divide” and risks prolonging rather than healing any rift resulting from this most contentious of presidential elections.

Phillips, who is chairman of Britain’s Equality and Human Rights Commission, even made one really controversial suggestion: that “guilt over transatlantic slavery was behind Mr. Obama’s support from middle class whites.:

Those are strong words and do have the ring of truth about them.

Even stronger words, though, are these: “If he fulfils the hopes of whites, he must disappoint blacks and vice versa.”

And, you know something. It’s okay if race is playing a key role in this race. Why not? You can’t sweep these sorts of things under the rug, so might as well talk about it openly.

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